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The Tullahoma Police Department is warning residents of a recent scam popping up across the country called “brushing scams”.

“We have not had any local reports, but want to make residents aware before you are victimized,” the police department said in a statement.

Per TPD, a “brushing” scam is when someone receives an unexpected gift or item not ordered in the mail from companies like Amazon. These gifts range from rings, bracelets, necklaces, Bluetooth speakers and so on.

“The gift will have the recipient’s address, but not include the sender’s information or be from a known retailer,” the department said. “When the recipient opens the package to see what it is and possibly who sent it, there is a QR code to scan to find out who sent the gift.”

Once the code is scanned, all the information from the phone will be sent to scammers, and they will have access to the phone.

“All personal and financial information is accessible to the scammers and often the victim’s bank accounts are drained.”

The police department said the gift can be kept or thrown away, but the QR code should not be scanned for any reason.

“QR code scams are nothing new,” police officials said. “These scams show up in all places, including parking meters.”

The police department advise residents to inform their family members about the scam and to avoid scanning any unknown QR codes included in the package.